I am duty-bound to protect interests of Jang: Hameed
KARACHI: The Chief Executive of the Dawn Group of newspapers, Hameed Haroon, reaffirmed the need for an independent principle laid down by Quaid-e-Azam.
He was felicitated on Monday night by the chairman of Orient Advertising, S H Hashmi, on the elevation of his office, and also for being elected for the second time as the president of All Pakistan Newspapers' Society (APNS).
"As the APNS chief, it is my duty to protect the interest of Jang Group, who is its constituent," he said, and disclosed that he himself and Arshad Zuberi of Business Recorder, had been consulting lawyers on going to the Supreme Court as intervenors in the present tussle of the Jang Group with the government. He, however, thought that the Jang affair should have been handled a bit more carefully as the Chief of the Ehtesab Bureau, Senator Saifur Rehman was capable of being reasonable. Hameed Haroon welcomed the establishment of the Pakistan Advertisers' Society, and said that Dawn would give its full support.The Dawn newspaper, Hameed Haroon said, was an institution, and had preserved the institution of editorship. Its present editor Ahmad Ali Khan was a widely respected journalist, and a man of great integrity.
Hameed fondly recalled his association with the newspaper,and said that although he was one of its owners, Dawn should never be considered a fiefdom of the Haroon family. He paid tributes to former editor of the Star late G N Mansuri, and also S R Ghauri, a former editor of the Morning News who had also served in the Dawn, and was well respected for his indepenent and unbiased views.
Hameed said that he had to give up his cherished desire of being a researcher on Chinese economy for which he wanted to be in Beijing for three years, after his association with the Star. He was given eight weeks time, and a meagre amount of Rs 10,000 to boost Star's circulation. He took that challenge and saw to it that the eveninger's was loved and patronised by its readers. From a mere 4,500 the Star had soared its circulation to over 35,000 because of the team work of its staff members.
He said a hawkers strike had forced Dawn to set up its own distribution system. The management learnt many lessons in that endeavour, and had to counter resistence from Altaf Hussain and the MQM in the early days. Hameed Haroon welcomed the establishment of the Pakistan Advertisers' Society,and said that Dawn will give it full support. Among those who paid tributes to Hameed Haroon were S H Hashmi, Tariq Mustafa, president of the Pakistan Advertisers Society, the media adviser in the Sindh government Dost Mohammad Faizi, Masood Hashmi, president of the Management Association of Pakistan, Ejaz Shafi Gilani, president of Pakistan Gallup Polls.